James T.
@jathaj.bsky.social
Public librarian. Erstwhile historian. Personal account - posts do not represent the views of my employer.
Unironically, they should kick us all out and bar any of us from coming. No more study abroad or Rick Steves tours until the orange man is gone.
Ok but unironically Europe has about as much leverage as anyone right now, travel-ban and sanction congressional Republicans until they impeach him, they are impervious to public pressure due to their own wickedness and a poorly designed system of government but they care about their Treats
January 21, 2026 at 2:52 PM
Unironically, they should kick us all out and bar any of us from coming. No more study abroad or Rick Steves tours until the orange man is gone.
Reposted by James T.
i think about this every time i look at the latest Overdrive or Hoopla or Kanopy invoice. unless prices or demand stabilize, our budget and thus our library will soon be describable as “lessee of digital content with a legacy dead-tree side concern.” 📚
No surprise to librarians, but perhaps surprising to users, demands/prices for ebooks /audiobooks are killing public library budgets. David Szalay's book, Flesh,” costs DCPL:
$28.99 hardcopy
$59.99 ebook
$69.99 audiobook
DCPL owns hardcopy; rents & must repurchase ebook & audio book every 2 yrs.
$28.99 hardcopy
$59.99 ebook
$69.99 audiobook
DCPL owns hardcopy; rents & must repurchase ebook & audio book every 2 yrs.
Libraries can't afford e-books. D.C. lawmakers have a plan.
The demand and price for e-books is up — and it’s busting the D.C. Public Library budget.
51st.news
January 17, 2026 at 8:34 PM
i think about this every time i look at the latest Overdrive or Hoopla or Kanopy invoice. unless prices or demand stabilize, our budget and thus our library will soon be describable as “lessee of digital content with a legacy dead-tree side concern.” 📚
Reposted by James T.
Time for some librarians and archivists to go dumpster diving.
They're going to *throw out* one-of-a-kind NASA archives?!
Not even a year since the Inauguration & we're already at the 2nd-time-as-farce version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
Not even a year since the Inauguration & we're already at the 2nd-time-as-farce version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
December 31, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Time for some librarians and archivists to go dumpster diving.
There’s a lot of bad things about going to grad school for history, but among the worst is that it can inculcate an obsession with how others perceive what you study that leads you to forsake your own passions and interests. Peer pressure worse than middle school.
Academic historians are biased against military history because the wider culture telegraphs that it is something for history “buffs.” This association with amateurism taints the field because academic historians are, understandably, invested in history being a professional endeavor.
December 24, 2025 at 5:43 PM
There’s a lot of bad things about going to grad school for history, but among the worst is that it can inculcate an obsession with how others perceive what you study that leads you to forsake your own passions and interests. Peer pressure worse than middle school.
Reviewing our collection of travel books and it can’t be overstated how travel guide publishing never recovered from the pandemic. The most current guide for so many destinations is 5+ years old. I have to weed them and they will just never be replaced.
December 21, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Reviewing our collection of travel books and it can’t be overstated how travel guide publishing never recovered from the pandemic. The most current guide for so many destinations is 5+ years old. I have to weed them and they will just never be replaced.
Reposted by James T.
One of the worst developments of the last ~20 years has been that in certain professions, 5% are superstars and 95% eat cat food for dinner.
Society depends on a broad and comfortable middle path.
Society depends on a broad and comfortable middle path.
December 16, 2025 at 7:33 PM
One of the worst developments of the last ~20 years has been that in certain professions, 5% are superstars and 95% eat cat food for dinner.
Society depends on a broad and comfortable middle path.
Society depends on a broad and comfortable middle path.
A lot of predictably vile comments on this one. So many good liberals become reactionary pricks as soon as someone suggests society should help out its youngest members and their parents.
Opinion | People Are Spending $20,000 a Year on Day Care. Here’s What Mamdani Can Do About It.
www.nytimes.com
December 11, 2025 at 5:48 PM
A lot of predictably vile comments on this one. So many good liberals become reactionary pricks as soon as someone suggests society should help out its youngest members and their parents.
Reposted by James T.
We talk a lot about how the GOP has become the party for bigots and the party for dummies, but we should spend a little more time talking about how the GOP has become the natural political home for losers.
December 10, 2025 at 12:03 AM
We talk a lot about how the GOP has become the party for bigots and the party for dummies, but we should spend a little more time talking about how the GOP has become the natural political home for losers.
@ifbookspod.bsky.social Spotted at a book sale in Sacramento!
December 6, 2025 at 10:03 PM
@ifbookspod.bsky.social Spotted at a book sale in Sacramento!
Pretty sure this is what resurrected Spock.
"the president has directed the Department of Energy to launch an AI project called the genesis mission" sounds like something out of a technothriller
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Launching the Genesis Mission
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose.
www.whitehouse.gov
November 25, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Pretty sure this is what resurrected Spock.
This post gets at an unfortunate truth: the price of childcare is literally unbelievable until you’re paying for it.
November 24, 2025 at 5:43 PM
This post gets at an unfortunate truth: the price of childcare is literally unbelievable until you’re paying for it.
Until we can give indigenous communities their land back copies of Eat, Pray, Love and Excel 2007 for Dummies will have to suffice.
A Little Free Library initiative bringing books to book deserts in Indigenous communities throughout the United States and Canada
Culturally Connected Literacy: The Impact of the Indigenous Library Program
A Little Free Library initiative bringing books to book deserts in Indigenous communities throughout the United States and Canada
buff.ly
November 17, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Until we can give indigenous communities their land back copies of Eat, Pray, Love and Excel 2007 for Dummies will have to suffice.
Wokeness is dead at the Great Mall. It’s warfighters only now.
November 15, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Wokeness is dead at the Great Mall. It’s warfighters only now.
Why pay for this when you can just phone XFINITY customer service?
Hold up
November 15, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Why pay for this when you can just phone XFINITY customer service?
Trump take Glowfari
Oakland Zoo’s Glowfari has returned, but prices are higher due to tariffs trib.al/TgBlqwL
Oakland Zoo’s Glowfari has returned, but prices are higher due to tariffs
President Donald Trump’s tariffs caused production prices to go up, Zoo CEO says.
trib.al
November 11, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Trump take Glowfari
It’s one of those days where I really wish the predictions for the “paperless office” had come true.
November 9, 2025 at 10:30 PM
It’s one of those days where I really wish the predictions for the “paperless office” had come true.
Gotta get those share prices to pop a few more times before it all deflates.
AI pioneers claim human-level general intelligence is already here on.ft.com/3JERVRg
AI pioneers claim human-level general intelligence is already here
Tech leaders say systems now rival human intelligence in key tasks, further fuelling the superintelligence debate
on.ft.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Gotta get those share prices to pop a few more times before it all deflates.
Happy Election Day! Especially to the people of California who are about to slowly go insane over the next few weeks as they wait for our excruciating ballot counting to conclude.
November 4, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Happy Election Day! Especially to the people of California who are about to slowly go insane over the next few weeks as they wait for our excruciating ballot counting to conclude.
Jill Lepore has taught regular undergrad classes in the last decade? I call BS.
This is an absolutely incredible thing to say. As someone in Ivy-ish (Duke) classrooms from 2016-2022… I call bull.
Or she was saying offensive shit.
Or she was saying offensive shit.
October 31, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Jill Lepore has taught regular undergrad classes in the last decade? I call BS.
Proud to have attended the school that is dead last on this list. I welcome the hatred of the chuds who created it.
City Journal, the magazine of the libertarian right-wing Manhattan Institute has its own college rankings. Clearly aiming at places moving to the right ideologically.
Georgia friends will notice GT and UGA are both in the top 10.
Georgia friends will notice GT and UGA are both in the top 10.
October 27, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Proud to have attended the school that is dead last on this list. I welcome the hatred of the chuds who created it.
They hate us for our freedom
NYT confirms our reporting from days ago - which the WH said was fake news - that Trump and Hegseth are pulling a stunt to fire artillery rounds over I-5 between SD and LA onto Camp Pendleton as a stunt, one of the busiest highways in America. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...
Military Plans to Fire Artillery Over California Freeway on Saturday
www.nytimes.com
October 18, 2025 at 3:39 PM
They hate us for our freedom
Reposted by James T.
A lot of terrible parts of California are downstream of what seemed like a good idea: direct democracy.
October 13, 2025 at 10:48 PM
A lot of terrible parts of California are downstream of what seemed like a good idea: direct democracy.